Like a Lion
by Fumm95
Summary: Evelyn makes an unexpected discovery about Commander Cullen when she returns to Skyhold late at night. Update: Fixed formatting. I am so sorry about that!


**A/N: I am so sorry for how impossible to read this was before. It's been forever since I used this site and I did not realize that copy-pasting from AO3 would fail so miserably.**

 **This was inspired by a snoring Cullen headcanon by wardencommander-amell on tumblr. Also, please go listen to lions snoring if you've never heard it before.**

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The tower office was still lit when she finally arrived back at Skyhold and Evelyn could only give Varric a small, tired smile when he waved her off with a "Go on, you know Curly's waiting for you." Allowing a stable hand to lead off her horse, she gave Dorian and Cassandra a quick wave, not even reacting to the former's saucy wink.

Wondering not for the first time why he was determined to stay in a room so difficult to reach from the courtyard, she entered the main keep and contemplated stopping by her quarters to change before deciding against it. She would just as likely fall asleep as soon as she sat down. Instead, she crept through Solas' rotunda, careful not to awaken the elf - unsurprisingly asleep in his armchair - and stumbled to Cullen's door.

She knocked briefly but when nobody answered, she quietly let herself in.

In spite of the exhaustion she could feel in her bones, the woman couldn't stop the fond smile that tugged at her lips as her eyes fell on the Commander. He was slumped over his desk, head pillowed on his arms as he slept. Leliana had mentioned once that he had trouble resting while she was away from Skyhold but she had never actually caught him asleep before. It made him look years younger, more vulnerable.

She moved to him, intending to wake him up, when she first heard the sound.

Startled, Evelyn bit her lip hard, shoulders shaking with the effort of staying silent. In the lull, she composed herself and took a few more steps forward until-

The giggles overwhelmed her before she could try to hold them back and only escalated when the sleeping man jerked upright, blinking blearily, then scrambled to his feet.

"In-inquisitor," he stammered. "I didn't realize- When did you-?" He paused, a hand running through his hair, and cleared his throat. "What do you find so amusing?"

The complete bewilderment on his face had her doubled over, fighting back tears of laughter, and it took several moments for her to regain enough control to force out, "Is that why you sleep in a room so far from everyone else? So you don't wake anyone?"

The flush on his face as he protested feebly only added to her mirth. Grinning, she teased him a little longer, feeling the stress of the past few weeks lift from the warmth of laughter, until he yawned and her own exhaustion settled back onto her shoulders.

Biting back a yawn of her own, she smiled at him a little sheepishly. "We should both sleep," she said somewhat reluctantly. With fade rifts opening everywhere and red templars and wardens to hunt down, her time in Skyhold was never long. There was barely enough time for a few stolen moments, and she loathed to give up any of them, but they still had duties to the Inquisition and to the entirety of Thedas. Just the thought seemed to make her bones ache.

She sighed, then laughed when she saw the small pout on Cullen's lips, allowing her a glimpse of the carefree lad he had once been, before Kinloch Circle and Kirkwall. Unable to resist, she moved forward and pressed a quick kiss to his lips, feeling him answer her grin with one of his own.

Before he could deepen their connection, she pulled away, dancing out of reach. "Sleep, and in your bed this time," she scolded fondly.

At his sigh and sheepish smile, she bid him good night, her heart warming when he returned it. Turning to hide her own foolish smile - she was a grown woman, not some silly child mooning over a boy - Evelyn walked to the door but stopped and twisted to look up at the loft he had disappeared into.

"Oh, and Commander?" She waited until he stuck his head back over the edge questioningly and smirked. "Try not to wake the dead with your snoring. Maker knows I've faced enough of them in the Exalted Plains."

His indignant spluttering, audible even from below, followed her out and she shook her head, still grinning, as she returned to her quarters. Maker, were lions' snores even as loud as his? Lion-hearted indeed.


End file.
